A Philadelphia Union blog hosted by Christopher A. Vito and Matthew De George

Monday, September 24, 2012

RICHTER ON TRIAL WITH UNION

(PhiladelphiaUnion.com)

A familiar
face was seen at PPL Park twice this week.

Ryan
Richter, the La Salle product from Southampton, Pa., is back with the Union as
a trialist for the last two weeks, two sources confirmed.

“He’s here,”
one said. “He’s a fun guy, and it’s been fun having him around again.”

A
midfielder/forward, Richter spent the 2011 season with the Union despite playing
only in friendlies and never in MLS competition. The Union did not pick up the
2012 option on the contract of Richter, the fifth overall selection in the 2011
supplemental draft. He was with D.C. United in February and March of this year
as a trialist, though he was never signed.

Richter
signed later in March with Charleston Battery, which went on to win the USL PRO
championship this season. At Charleston, Richter played in 29 games with 19
starts, two goals and four assists in 1792 minutes, helping the Battery take
down the Wilmington Hammerheads for the fourth title in franchise history.

It’ll be
interesting to see whether the Union ink Richter to another deal. He’s got the
flexibility to play any field position on the pitch and he might be worth
taking a risk on.

“He just
wants to play,” said one Union player. “He’ll do anything to get on the field
and he wants to stay here with us.”

They couldn't sign him until January, so I'm thinking he's just hanging around staying fit, at least for the time being. As long as Hack doesn't force him into an unfamiliar role, it'd be nice to have Richter back.

blah, blah, blah. We don't need an undefined "midfielder/forward" from a champion USL PRO team. We need a confident leader, a DP, someone who has played in Europe and knows what it takes to play serious football.

we need a already good proven striker. none of these question mark people. we've enough of them and we cant fuck around anymore. we need a striker who is currently scoring goals not a young kid who looks like he could.